In another public appearance Wednesday, Barber downplayed criticism of his suggestion that Scott, the lone black Republican in Congress, is a puppet for the tea party.

"The question is not so much having all this indignation over a metaphor,” Barber said, according to the Asheville Citizen-Times. “The issue is not the problem with the metaphor. What people should have righteous indignation over is the pain and the misery that is being caused by extremist politics.”

Barber said Sunday in a speech in Columbia, S.C., that Scott has been hijacked by the right wing.

Barber said "the extreme right wing down here finds a black guy to be senator and claims he’s the first black senator since Reconstruction, and then he goes to Washington, D.C., and articulates the agenda of the tea party.”

The comment has incensed Republicans in both Carolinas. Those Republicans have urged Democrats to denounce Barber, who is an growing voice against the GOP leadership in North Carolina.